When Dark Met Darker
by maggierose99
Summary: Hermione's story didn't end the way it was supposed to when Voldemort was defeated. There was no time for a happily-ever-after with her budding career, emotional stress over the loss of her parents' memories, and Ron's descent into a number life. She was in a dark spot, and then she met someone darker. Dramione. Rated M because that's how Dramione should be.
1. Chapter 1

The heroine wins.

In all of her muggle fairy tales - the ones her mother used to read to her under the thick afghan that smelled like Grandma Granger's ragged old armchair - the beautiful princess never failed to win her prince and find the sort of happiness that lived through the ages. She beat the dragon, rose above her stepmother and stepsisters, defeated the very forces of evil that had made her life a living hell during her pre-prince era.

The prince changed everything, made the princess's life golden, managed to look good while in the throes of passion and the heat of battle.

And they both lived happily ever after.

Hermione Granger had never used to be a cynical creature, and she was never much prone to sarcasm during her formative years, but a lot had changed since she finished her seventh year at Hogwarts and somehow she stopped believing in fairy tales. She didn't stop believing in them in the way actresses at the beginning of romantic comedy movies stop believing in them. Her love for fairy tales wouldn't be stoked by the entrance of her prince thirty minutes into the movie. The magic surrounding the tales and the senseless hope that all would work out in the end was something she could never get back. She had enough real magic to last her a lifetime, leaving her with no need for fictional magic, and the senseless hope had gone out the back door years ago along with an old mattress and a pair of dress robes that no longer fit her right.

Princes are sometimes just dicks with nice hair. And no one looks good while in the throes of passion, much less in the heat of battle.

But what Hermione knew down to the very core of her being was that not all heroines win at the end of their stories. In fact, she recognized with some pain that not all stories came to an end in the same place as the author's last word.

Hermione Granger had lost. She had lost horribly. She had no prince and she held no false hopes that one would ride along on a sweaty white horse to save her from her demons.

She didn't want that.

And that's not what she got.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hermione, the ministry closes at ten."

Hermione didn't bother to look up from her paperwork when she responded, "You'd better leave before they block the Floos and you get stuck here for the night. Ginny won't be very happy with you if you go missing again." In all honesty, even if she did look up she'd have trouble seeing past the mounds of parchment that had accumulated over her vacation.

Harry was silent, but when he did speak again his voice was nearer to her desk. She imagined he was frowning so that the scar on his forehead was scrunched up. "Don't do this to yourself, Hermione. It's not healthy."

"Nott stays overnight all the time and I don't hear you begging him to consider his mental health," Hermione snapped, setting down her quill. "What's more is that I don't think he's working during the night so much as he's pilfering from the cafeteria and waiting to assault Pansy on her way into her office."

"I don't – Nott's business is none of my business. He can do whatever the hell he likes when the house elves aren't watching –"

"Harry, don't talk about elves like that. They're capable of a lot more than just babysitting snots like Theodore Nott."

Harry pushed a stack of parchment to the far end of her desk so he could see her clearly. "I'm talking about more than your mental health, since Godric knows you're unbeatable on that front."

"That front and most others."

"Your physical health is what most worries me. Have you… Have you looked at yourself in the mirror today?"

Hermione's hand twitched and annoyed sparks cracked for a brief second while she scanned Harry up and down, her eyelids lowered. "It's the time difference. I'm getting back on English time."

"Your trip was not as successful as you'd planned," Harry said wisely.

"I went to Australia. I relaxed. I sat in the sun. I drank more than I should have. What would you have liked me to do instead?"

Harry's face softened. "Hermione, I know why you chose Australia for your vacation. I know you didn't relax one bit. I just don't understand why you would do that to yourself."

For a second Hermione wanted to release her shoulders and slump back in her chair, but admitting defeat was not something she was in the habit of doing. Instead, she tilted her chin up to give him a defiant, if not bleary-eyed look. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've wanted to go to Australia since I was a little girl. The Ministry was going to either force me to take my vacation days or fire me, so I finally fulfilled that dream. The jet lag just caught up to me, is all." She changed her tone and almost smiled. "Now, if you don't leave soon your wife will send a Howler and your sons will turn into beasts waiting for their father to get home to tell them all about their father's heroics at work today. Don't keep them waiting."

Harry grinned. "Ginny takes after her mother in her love of Howlers."

"Then piss off, you lucky man."

On his way out the door, Harry turned and said, "You'd best piss off yourself and get a good night's sleep."

There was worry written into her friend's face, and that worry softened her core a bit. She gave him a real smile this time, albeit a small one. "I will, Harry. I promise."

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Bright and early."

"Nice and late."

Harry left and Hermione picked up her quill once more. For a brief moment she closed her eyes and thought she might just set her head down and rest before tackling the stack of papers in front of her. The darkness behind her lids scared her, though, and she opened them to resume her work.

That was what she did; she ran from the dark that was inside of her and would never leave.


End file.
